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Men’s Formal Footwear
made in England. But like most “British” cars at least conservative, the pillars of the community.
some of the components are imported. For Barker’s These shoes offer a comfort and consistency that is
the decline in English tanning means the hides for not available with the mass produced shoes. It was
their shoes have to be imported. They select young pointed out to me that each pair of shoes is conceived
hides of French and Italian, Alpine origin. Young, and constructed as a pair – travelling together around
Alpine pelts are chosen because they have fewer growth the Barker’s factory in tandem. Mass produced shoes
marks and are free of insect bite marks and other are made on a left and right production line and
blemishes that cattle reared at lower altitudes suffer. married up as they are placed in the shoe box.
The model of brogue tested was the Hamilton: a To demonstrate the point Mr. Gell showed me three
thoughtful and apposite bit of branding by Barker. pairs of the shoes: they differed in distinctive respects
The name Hamilton derives from terms meaning – each pair is made from the same skin so the grain
“treeless hill” and “fortified place”. matches, the welts are finished, cutting off the excess
Many well known brands of shoe nowadays tack by match, and the toe caps are stretched to match so
the appellation “English” onto their branding, but the toe cap seams line up. If they were married at the
unlike Barker’s shoes, which are hand made in moment they were dispatched from the factory they
Northampton, are mass produced abroad. Interest- could make some unhappy couples.
ingly, Adrian Gell, Barker’s Sales & Marketing The Lincoln is a slim looking shoe that fits closely.
Manager says the slump in sterling has induced some Much has been said of the role “quantitative easing”
shoe manufacturers to approach his firm to make will have in the recovery of the economy. I would
shoes in England to replace their increasingly recommend that it becomes a term applied to break-
expensive imports. ing in a new shoe: a wear little and often until
The “Town shoe” I was given to test was the the upper and the cork “bottom filling” in the base
Lincoln. It is a city shoe crafted for tradition, of the shoe mould to the unique shape of your
elegance and symmetry, perhaps reflecting façade foot.
of Lincoln Cathedral and imbibing some of that The Hamilton brogue is no more at home
city’s ecclesiastical and mercantile history. in the town than the Lincoln is in the city,
At this time when financial services industry but like the town and the country mice they each have
is not held in the highest esteem it might their domain to which they are, respectively,
seem brash to wear a pair of shoes in the City ideally suited.
that are a byword for the opulence of the board
•
Contact: Adrian Gell, Barker Shoes:
room. But, this is a shoe for lawyers, accountants, Tel: 01604 810387
surgeons and physicians – any one who E-mail: barker@barkershoes.co.uk
would wish to present themselves as professional, Web: www.barkershoes.co.uk
JUNE/JULY 2009
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FOOTWEAR TODAY
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